WASHINGTON - August 27 - WHEN: Saturday, August 28, 7 PM

WHERE: The Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive, New York City

WHAT: CODEPINK: Women for Peace will host an event celebrating women’s passion, creativity and strength in saying no to war and yes to peace and justice, as the Republican Delegates begin arriving in New York City. Renown playwright/performer Eve Ensler will headline a performance that will culminate in an awards ceremony during which CODEPINK: Women for Peace will present “pink badges of courage” to military families, soldiers, and diplomats who have been outspoken against the Bush administration’s war and militarism.

In addition to Ensler, the Saturday, August 28 “Women Against War” event will feature Democracy Now! Host Amy Goodman; Singer Pamela Means; Spoken Word Artist Alix Olson; Hip-Hop Performance Poet Aya De Leon; Comedian Reno; Singer Noe Venable; the Guerilla Girls on Tour; and the young women of We Got Issues!

The Pink Badge of Courage awards will be presented to Norma Castillo, the mother of Camillo Mejia, an Iraq War Veteran who was sentenced to one year in prison for refusing to return there to fight; Kelly Dougherty, an Iraq war veteran who helped found the group Iraq Veterans Against War; Fernando Suarez del Solar, whose son Jesus del Solar was killed in the Iraq war; Anne Wright, a former ambassador and diplomat who resigned her post in March 2003 in protest against the Bush administration’s war plans; and Leslie Cagan, the national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice.

The sponsors of the “Women Against War” event are CODEPINK: Women for Peace, the Global Fund for Women, the Global Justice and Peace Ministry of The Riverside Church, the Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues & Ideas, and the Astraea Foundation. Proceeds benefit CODEPINK, a national women’s peace group with 90 chapters throughout the United States and the world. CODEPINK is know for its clever and witty actions, like handing pink slips to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other prominent administration officials to “fire” them for dragging the country into war and economic hardship. Since its inception, thousands of women have been inspired to go to Washington to protest the war with Iraq and start CODEPINK chapters in their own cities.

CODEPINK plans to hold frequent protests during the Republican National Convention. In the coming week, CODEPINK is sponsoring a women’s peace rally and march that will begin at 10 AM at 23rd Street and Fifth Avenue and join with the massive United for Peace and Justice anti-war march on Sunday, August 29. On Tuesday, August 31, they are co-sponsoring a “Shut-up-a-thon” outside Fox News.

For other CODEPINK RNC events and information, see www.codepinkalert.org

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